Taylor Swift has officially bought back the rights to her first six albums, ending a long-term battle over the ownership of her music.
The singer announced the happy news in a post to Instagram and X featuring a picture of her sitting on the ground with her records laid out all round her, accompanied by the caption:
“You belong with me.
💚💛💜❤️🩵🖤
Letter on my site :)”
You can see Taylor Swift’s post in all its glory here:
Instagram content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Thrilled is an understatement! It well and truly feels like order has been restored in the Swiftie universe.
ICYMI, Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records (along with all of Tay Tay’s music) back in 2019, with the masters then being sold on by Braun to Shamrock Capital in 2020, meaning that since then Swift has had to re-record all of her own original music in order to reclaim it legally in some way.
Taylor Swift on buying back her masters
In the letter announcing the news on her site, Taylor said “I’m trying to gather my thoughts into something coherent, but right now my mind is just a slideshow. A flashback sequence of all the times I daydreamed about, wished for, and pined away for a chance to get to tell you this news. All the times I was thiiiiiiiiiiiiis close , reaching out for it, only for it to fall through. I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled then yanked away. But that’s all in the past now.
I’ve been bursting into tears of joy at random intervals ever since I found out that this is really happening. I really get to say these words: All of the music I’ve ever made… now belongs… to me.”
The fact that this has been such a battle breaks our hearts but honestly we couldn’t be more happier for Tay Tay.
Ok, so what’s the latest with Rep TV?
In the letter, Taylor also got candid about where things are at with Rep TV following months of fan speculation, stating “I know, I know. What about Rep TV? Full transparency: I haven’t even re-recorded a quarter of it. The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life, and I kept hitting a stopping point when I tried to remake it. All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposely misunderstood, that desperate hope, that shame-born snarl and mischief. To be perfectly honest, it’s The First of That Time that I thought wouldn’t be improved upon by re-recording it. Not the music, photos, or videos. So I kept putting it off.”
